Graduate Council
Minutes of Meeting Held
October 11, 2006
Present:
Dean Tumeo, Professors Bailey, Bathala, Beebe, Bowen, Forte, Gatica, Hansman, Jeffres,
Leedy, Oprea, Regoeczi, Rudd, Simon, Smith, Spector
Guests:
Barbara Hanniford, Benoy Joseph, John Bazyk, Steve Slane, Karen O’Loughlin, Mary
Milidonis, Sharon Radzyminski, Rosemary Sutton, Janet Stimple, Santosh Misra, Benoy
Joseph, LaShawnda Berry-Knox
Absent/Excused:
Professors Jackson, Marshall, Sola, Thornton
Dean Tumeo opened the meeting at 10:05 a.m. with introductions.
Announcements and Communications:
Dean Tumeo reminded Council members that all meeting materials will be posted to the web. If a hard copy
is preferred let him know.
Ph.D. in Psychology and the University Curriculum Committee:
The University Curriculum Committee requested additional information from Psychology.
Committee Reports:
Faculty Senate:
Dr. Jeffres reported that the Faculty Senate approved the strategic plan. He suggested that the significance
on this for the Graduate Programs be discussed at a future Council meeting.
Old Business:
Approval of Minutes of September 13, 2006 Graduate Council Meeting:
The minutes were approved as submitted.
New Business:
College of Business Proposal to raise the minimum TOEFL score:
Benoy Joseph stated that the proposal to raise the minimum TOEFL score is an attempt to raise the quality of
students in the College of Business. The original minimum for International students was 525 on the paper
based TOEFL and the request is for a raise to 550. Dean Tumeo asked how this plays into the admissions
formula. Dr. Joseph responded that the formula is still the same this is just a minimum cut-off so they will
not see applicants with TOEFL scores below 550. There would be an impact on the International enrollment
if it was raised too much and impacts all of the Graduate Business programs. David Forte asked what the
TOEFL Scale is. The response is that the paper-based scale goes up to 700. Dean Tumeo stated that 550 is
slightly above the 70th percentile but varies in any test-taking year. Dr. Joseph mentioned that they did a
comparison with other Graduate schools and 550 is the norm. Dr. Joseph stated that the long range goal is to
keep raising standards to get better quality students.
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Dean Tumeo stated that over the years this Council worked very hard to get the ESL program up and
running. There are alternatives for qualified students to come in and increase their language skills. Before,
there was no way to capture those potentially strong students with marginal language skills. Now with the
ESL program we have the mechanism where those students can be brought up to the appropriate language
level. This has given the programs the tools to improve quality without significantly decreasing enrollment.
A motion was made to approve the proposal to raise the TOEFL scores to 550 for the College of Business.
The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
Proposal for a Doctor of Physical Therapy:
Dean Tumeo reported that the proposal for the establishment of a Doctor of Physical Therapy is well
represented. The impetus for this is that the licensure for Physical Therapists in the very near future is going
to require a doctorate. For the Cleveland State program to remain accredited it will need to move to the
doctorate level.
John Bazyk reported that the Doctor of Physical Therapy proposal has been approved by the Department of
Health Sciences and the College of Science. Dr. Oprea asked if all of the Physical Therapy programs are
without written dissertations. The response was that the program is for a clinical doctorate opposed to a
research doctorate. Currently the master’s level is the entry program and the proposal is for a doctoral level
entry program. The proposed program is a nine consecutive semester program and includes both academic
and clinical components. One impetus moving the profession towards a doctorate is the complexities and
demands of health care and how the Physical Therapists fit into that. It is felt that the best way to education
the Physical Therapists in these complexities is at the doctoral level. There is increased time on the clinic
side in order to have the students be more prepared to take care of the aging baby boomers and the next
generation. The program has a research component but it is applied research. Dr. Slane responded that the
other programs in the state are designed without a dissertation.
Discussion ensued on what distinguishes a clinical doctorate from a super master’s degree. The current
program is a super master’s degree in the sense that it is six consecutive semesters of 84 credits. RACGS has
determined that there are two components that must be true in a professional doctorate. One is there has to
be a significant increase in the clinical hours over a traditional masters. The second is that professional
doctorates in health sciences understand research that is done and apply it to their patients not to do original
research. There must be a significant component of the doctoral program that deals with the application and
understanding of research in the field. This includes statistics and understanding the statistical methods. It
includes evidence based practice.
Dr. Forte stated that all recent research that he has read has found that virtually all licensing requirements are
economically dysfunctional and class prejudiced. The more we get into it the more we lessen the
opportunities for entrepreneurial peoples especially at the lower classes. The more we do that the more we
create a state mandated class society with not much economic benefit. Dean Tumeo stated that Cleveland
State University should take a great deal in pride in that we have the highest percentage of African American
and minority doctorates graduating from our University. We serve a population that is traditionally
underserved. If we do this right including scholarships and getting support and the kind of things President
Schwartz is working on we can at least make a dent in that underclass by giving them the opportunity. If we
don’t have the degree to give them then we as an institution are unable to serve that population. Dr.
Milidonis replied that this is a concern to the Health Sciences Faculty. They are trying to develop
programming that will assist students who are disadvantage especially as it relates to the professions to have
greater access to the education. A motion was made to approve the Doctorate of Physical Therapy. The
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motion was seconded and approved with three abstentions. Dean Tumeo will forward the proposal to the
University Curriculum Committee. From there it will go to Faculty Senate in November and the Board of
Trustees in January.
Proposal for an Executive Track in the Master of Science in Nursing:
Dean Tumeo stated that the proposal for an Executive Track in the Master of Science in Nursing is more of
delivery mode change. Sharon Radzyminski reported that by 2015 Nursing will have to go to a doctorate
program as well. The Advisory Board of the School of Nursing asked for a way to accelerate the Master’s
degree in Nursing for those who have a BSN, are practicing nursing at a high level and have a master’s
degree in another discipline other than nursing. This would allow them to get the Master of Nursing in one
calendar year. There is no change in the number of credit hours or courses. If applicable 9 credit hours
would be accepted from their previous master’s degree. Determination would be made individually on
which courses are applicable. There is a very strong deficit in nursing faculty and this does not look to
improve. In the last three years over 700 students have been turned away because there are not enough
faculty to teach them. In order to maintain Magnet Status hospitals are required to have their department
heads have a MSN.
Dr. Radzyminski stated that the focus of the program is to improve the quality of the nurses’ ability to either
manage or deliver care. Discussion ensued on shat courses will be required. A motion was made to approve
the executive track in the Master of Science in Nursing. The motion was seconded and unanimously
approved. Dean Tumeo will forward the proposal to the University Curriculum Committee.
Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Informatics:
Santosh Misra stated that the program has been developed over the last year. There are four different
departments involved with more to be added. Courses are in Health Sciences, Health Care Administration,
Psychology and Computer Information Science. The idea behind the program is to start the process of
developing research oriented competencies for people who want interdisciplinary skills. A Cleveland Clinic
Doctor has been participating in developing the proposal. Existing courses will be used. Courses from other
areas such as Nursing and Mathematics may be added. It is an 18 minimum credit hour certificate with
standard admission requirements.
Mieko Smith added that this is a very interdisciplinary program and the hope is to expand it even further.
Many departments came forward and asked why they were not included. Dean Tumeo mentioned that David
Anderson, Associate Dean of the College of Science sent a letter indicating the College’s support for this.
The College of Business has also approved it. CIS students would be asked to double up on the statistics and
health sciences areas. Since they can be double counted it will be determined on a person by person basis.
Dr. Gatica stated that by looking at the course requirement that a CIS student could get the Certificate
without taking any extra classes. Dr. Misra stated that the students would unlikely have Project Management
and most of them may not have the Bioinformatics. The advising will be done on a one-to-one basis. The
idea is to double up on interdisciplinary skills. The program proposal requires a minimum one course per
group.
Graduate Council members expressed concern on the knowledge background for students in the different
areas and in some cases are only requiring one course in Health Science and Management. Dr. Misra stated
that it is assumed that some of them have to some additional prep work in another course before than can
take the required course. Students will be trained in dealing with research with large data sets. What is
needed is an understanding of the terminology.
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The question was raised about double counting courses. Dr. Misra stated that a master’s student could
double count their courses. Mieko Smith reported that the group did not set a number of courses that will be
allowed to be double counted because the certificate is designed for those who are working on their Master’s
or already have their Master’s and want to have a certificate in Healthcare Informatics. Dean Tumeo
reported that currently there are thirteen certificates that range from 12 credits to about 18 credits. In most
instances you have to take at least 12 credits in addition to your masters. The standard response of Graduate
Council has been that if you are doing added value then you are not going to be allowed to double count very
much. Dr. Smith stated that it would be a good idea to specify the maximum number of credit hours that can
be double counted.
One of the concerns raised was that the only statistics courses listed are in Health Sciences and Psychology.
The University has several well known statisticians who are not represented. Dr. Misra replied that the
College of Science was invited to suggest which courses should be included. What has been anticipated is
that in order to keep the flexibility of this program additional courses will be added.
Dean Tumeo stated that there was the need to answer several questions such as statistics, how many Health
Science Management courses are required, double counting courses. What is the governing group that is
going to make some of the decisions on adding courses? Step back think about these things add it to the
proposal and bring it back to the next Graduate Council meeting. At that point you can make sure the
statistics people get involved in the discussion. There is always a balance that is struck by this Council in
terms of the disciplinary focus of a program and the fact that there is expertise across the campus in other
departments that by reason of good sound academic approach and realistic economics in very tough times
need to start being paid more attention to. It is not inappropriate for Council to say that when there is
expertise on campus it is inefficient to duplicate that within colleges when you can draw upon the expertise
of other departments. He asked proposal committee to work on this and add the appropriate people to
discuss this and answer the questions brought by Council members.
Grade Dispute Policy:
Dean Tumeo introduced Dr. Sutton who is the chair of the Admissions & Standards. The proposal is for a
change to the change of grade and grade dispute policies for the Graduate College. The policy currently
states that only computational errors allow a grade change without going through the dispute process. One
issue addressed in the revision is the required three-way conference with the chairperson, student, and the
instructor. In some cases the instructor is a part-timer and is unavailable. The wording “if possible” has
been added.
There were a couple of other issues having to do with having a time limit on disputes. Dr. Simon asked what
some of the examples of extraordinary circumstances have been noted. At the undergraduate level there are
six or seven colleges with independent people making different decisions and you end up with inconsistent
application of a policy.
Council members discussed the differences in interpretation of what is extraordinary and the possibility of
including a timeline. Dean Tumeo replied that there are some professors that will automatically change a
“C” to a “B” or an “F” to a “C” if the student complains about the consequences. Under this policy it would
come to the Graduate College. What is required is a written explanation from the professor as to why they
are doing this. If the Dean says no it would go through Grade Dispute. There have been numerous grade
changes from “F” to “C” or “C” to “B” that have been submitted three or four semesters later because the
student is going to loose their assistantship and they go back to a professor who then says they missed
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something, so please change the grade. Dean Tumeo stated that at the Graduate level this type of issue
would be a change of grade Petition not a grade dispute. A motion was made to approve the policy as
submitted. The motion was seconded. After additional discussion Dean Tumeo asked for a show of hands to
approve the revised Grade Change policy. The motion was passed by a margin of 5 to 3.
Discussion Items:
Dean Tumeo introduced Janet Stimple, Director of Registrar Operations and LaShawnda Berry, the Graduate
Coordinator in Graduate Admissions.
Graduate Student Status Change and Deactivation:
Dean Tumeo stated that we have students that apply and are admitted. They are in the system as active and
they can go on-line and enroll but don’t come to Cleveland State. If we leave them active in the system it
creates problems in the system because you have an active open line where there is nobody. It has been
proposed that if a person is not here by a certain period they will be deactivated. What Graduate Admissions
will then do is notify the Program Directors of who was deactivated in the system. The Graduate Program
Directors then have three options. They can say we want them to be re-activated for the next term, we want
to wait and reactivate them for next fall because we are in a cohort or we want them to reapply. The student
will get both an email and a letter asking them to go to this web site to let us know that (a) no I am not
coming I’ve gone someplace else, (b) I decided that I really want to come in the Spring or next semester, or
(c) I’m not coming for some other reason. We can then provide this information to the Graduate Program
Director. Previously they have been left active. Graduate Admissions will pick-up the workload of
notifying the Graduate Program Directors.
Dr. Bowen asked which one of the three is the default mode. Dean Tumeo responded that his
recommendation is that those programs that are not cohorts be automatically re-activated for the following
term. If it is a cohort program some work will have to be done with the Program Directors to sort it out.
Graduate Student Deactivation:
The second is Graduate Student deactivation. Currently if a student applies for Graduate Admissions and
they have an active undergraduate record in our system when admitted their undergraduate status is
deactivated. Conversely we often have student who are in Graduate Programs who apply for post
baccalaureate status, which is an undergraduate status. There is a form that the student has to sign stating
that they understand that by becoming an undergraduate again I am deactivating my graduate status. The
student will sign it and it will go in the student’s file the undergraduate admissions people will deactivate the
graduate status. We cannot have people holding dual status. What has been happening is students keep both
status active and depending on what they are doing they enroll as the undergraduate because they want to
pay the lower tuition. This is what we are trying to get rid of since it has financial aid implications. With
Graduate Council’s permission this policy will be instituted.
Graduate Student Overload Approval:
For a Graduate student to get an overload they have to have a 3.0 and get their Department Chair’s, Graduate
Program Director’s and the Dean of the Graduate College’s signature. The question is why does the Dean
have to sign it. Dean Tumeo’s recommendation is that the Chair’s and Graduate Program Director’s
signature is all that is required. This was acceptable to Council member.
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E-Learning at Cleveland State:
Dean Tumeo introduced Dr. Hanniford who has been waiting to talk about E-Learning. Dr. Hanniford stated
that she wanted to keep Council up-to-date on the changes on how E-Learning is supported at Cleveland
State. The task force on E-learning last spring recommended that an office on E-Learning be established.
They did not make recommendation on how it would be structured and who it would report to. The
President created the Center for E-Learning and asked the Division of Continuing Education to take
responsible to move what they are already doing and elevate the support for E-Learning and advance
capabilities to enhance the quality of academics and increase enrollment to be competitive in the market
place. One change that will be made in the next few weeks is that Paul Karol, the WebCT administrator
along with other staff members have moved organizationally into the new Center for E-Learning. Better
Bonder is chairing the search for a full-time Director. WebCT is going to be upgraded to version 6. That is
being tested now. Hands on training will be in November. It has better features and is a more user friendly
version of WebCT. By Fall 07 everything will be upgraded to version 6.
Dr. Hanniford wanted Council members to know that if a program is going to be offered entirely on-line
approvals are needed from the Board of Regents and the North Central Higher Learning Commission. There
is an approval process that must be followed.
There are a number of adjunct faculty as well as full-time faculty teaching
The meeting was adjourned at 12:13 p.m.
(Minutes were approved by Graduate Council on January 19, 2007)